Leader of South Beach 'B-Girl' scam sentenced to 3 years in prison after US seeks leniency

MIAMI – The ringleader of a Russian-mob connected Florida scam involving so-called "B-Girls" and wealthy male tourists has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.

A Miami judge on Friday agreed that 46-year-old Alec Simchuk deserved credit for voluntarily returning from Russia, pleading guilty and testifying against others. The term "B-Girls" is short for "Bar Girls."

The scam involved attractive Russian and Eastern European women who trolled legitimate South Beach clubs looking for rich men. They brought the men to after-hours clubs, got them drunk and then charged huge amounts on their credit cards. Total losses were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.